What they might say in some of the politer circles, with pinkie extended from martini, is that Bill Johnston has created quite a manure storm by blowing just a little hot air.

Johnston is public relations chief for the Chargers - has been since 1990 - and I’ve known him for more than 30 years, when he began as a cub flack under the legendary Rick Smith. Although there have been many times when we have been at odds, I can’t say I’ve known many better people.

Bill is a kind man, a giving man, a devoted man who created the San Diego chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society when his wife Ramona contracted this horrible thing more than a decade ago.

Bill is a better man than I. The strength he has shown, balancing his job and Ramona’s incurable disease and his continuous work to help find a cure for this killer, often leaves me breathless. No one I know can put more time in his day.

However, in no way am I here today to say Johnston as a professional was right when he wrote a Thursday column on the Chargers Web site asking fans to “take a chill pill” following Monday night’s embarrassing defeat to the Denver Broncos.

But it was his right. The problem is that he didn’t really say what he wanted to say in the correct manner. So he’s not Hemingway. But what he wrote, which I found to be innocuous, infuriated so many Chargers fans it ended up going national, or viral, or whatever the hip phrase is at the moment.

As a rule, Bill is wise enough to air his laundry indoors. Many a time I’ve received calls from him after a column, saying, “You’re killing me.” He wrote this from the heart, as a fan, not the wise, experienced PR man that he is, and he got his tie caught in the typewriter.

Bad thing is, the team’s Web people eventually buried it on the site, and to make matters worse, by Friday afternoon had changed the date on the column from Oct. 18 to Oct. 15. If you read the piece, with Bill talking about the talk show firestorm following the game - and even my Tuesday column saying the Chargers are done - then you know the column couldn’t have been written on Oct. 15.

When I spoke to Bill Friday afternoon he said he knew nothing of the date change. “I wrote it yesterday (Thursday),” he said. “That really is news to me. I have to look into it.”

Nor did he plan any sort of retraction. “Me, personally? No,” he said. “I wanted it out there. Maybe, if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have had it run with me as an employee of the club. Just run it as a column.”

I then welcomed him to the world of column writing and that if he’s going to continue his career as a Web scribe he’d be wise to develop a thicker skin. Because as far as I’m concerned, this is a molehill turned into a typical social media Himalaya. It will be long gone once the next molehill comes along.

What Bill did wrong was write too deeply from the heart of the fan he has been all his life, as if the criticism is incredulous to him.

He wrote: “What’s wrong with you people?” It ticked fans off. Not the right thing for a PR guy to say to his constituents.

He wrote: “Take a chill pill.” Once again, a softer tact would have been advisable.

But the Chargers have a Website. The U-T has a Website. I write for it and many more on our staff members express their opinions on it. A whole lot of readers disagree with what we have to say and many of them think they’re in the great majority, when in fact it’s often the exact opposite.

They don’t know my business any more than I know theirs. They don’t hand out expert diplomas to every blogger and tweeter. But everybody has a voice now. If Johnston wants to have one, why should we have a problem with it? It isn’t as though he told every fan to move to L.A.

"I think you know me well enough to know what my intentions were,” he said. “I’ve been here forever. My only goal was to hopefully make people think about what lies ahead. I didn’t mean to criticize or offend anyone.”

That I believe. Problem is, he did offend, even though he didn’t mean to. The Chargers have enough problems with the Norv Turner haters without having to deal with their PR guy ticking off fans.

"I’m as upset or more upset about this than anyone,” Johnston said. “I guess my message wasn’t clear enough. I look at where we are and where we can be and I see a season ahead.

"A lot of people think it’s from the team point of view, but it isn’t. It’s from my point of view. It was a column, like your column in the paper.”

Bill Johnston deserves a hall pass. He also has to see a skin specialist.